Over the past ten years, compact discs have achieved significant status as a collectible, both for enjoyment and investment. Investment-grade compact discs now command hundreds and even thousands of dollars. In addition, the compact disc manufacturing art is creating graphical design innovations to the compact disc itself, increasing its decorative appeal. Multi-color silk screen, random dot, and off-set printing techniques allow compact discs to be decorated with highly detailed color pictures. Technologies like 3-D I.D.TM. holographic disc printing and Imagedi.TM. disc etching creates incredible hologram and refractive effects. More recent technologies like the shaped compact disc (i.e. a compact disc cut into a shape other than the traditional round) and the Cool Disc.TM. (i.e. a compact disc with only a partially metalized surface) create a unique, even spectacular presentation of the compact disc.
The term compact disc, as used herein, and in the claims, is broadly defined as any "optically readable media" encompassing any medium on which information may be optically read by a laser, including, but not limited to, data that represents audio, video, text, images, computer data, or any other combination thereof.
The typical compact disc is a polycarbonate, annular information carrier disc containing a concentric spiral of pits representing digital information that can be optically read with a low power laser. One planar surface of the disc is smooth (read-side of the disc) while the opposite planar surface of the disc has the concentric spiral of pits molded into it (print-side of the disc). A thin layer of reflective metal is evaporated onto the pitted surface of the disc. An acrylic-type coating layer is then deposited onto the metal surface of the disc encapsulating said metal surface. In practice, the disc is removably attached to a compact disc player spindle mechanism through a center hole in the compact disc. The spindle mechanism rotates the disc at high speed. A laser will then enter through the smooth surface of the disc (read-side), focus onto the pitted surface, and reflect the spiral of pits forming a data stream. The data stream is read by a diode sending the data to a digital-to-analog converter eventually creating music, video, or other desired information. The disc may be any size including the standard 4.7 inches diameter, or from the 3 inch diameter digital disc to the larger 8 or the 12 inch diameter laser disc. All references to the compact disc and related media will heretofore be called CD.
The CD also comprises an annular stacking ring near the center portion of the disc between the center hole and the digital information. The stacking ring is a non-critical surface portion of the disc designed to allow the disc to be handled, stacked one on top of another, or to be secured to devices like a jewel box or a CD player without damaging the information.
As with most collectibles, a major concern to collectors is how to display and showcase those collectibles in a decoratively pleasing manner. For CDs, there currently exists no utility whose purpose is to decoratively display the disc. There does exist several CD storage devices, all of which are used for either, storing the CD itself, storing the CD on a wall display, or storing the CD and displaying the same in bins at the music store or in the home. None of these, however, decoratively display the CD in any manner even remotely similar to that of the present invention. Most CDs are sold and stored in what the CD manufacturing art has termed a jewel box. The typical jewel box is a three piece molded plastic box comprising: a transparent base member, a transparent lid member hingedly attached to said base member, and a disc-holding tray member secured onto said base member. The disc is removably secured onto the tray member by a centrally located circular array of flexible teeth or bubble on the tray, generally referred to as a hub. The hub employs the required friction to the center hole edge of the compact disc allowing it to be removably secured into place. The jewel box is made of a clear resilient plastic material and is approximately 5 inches high by 51/2 inches long and 3/18 inch thick. The above description is for a single compact disc jewel box. Variations to this jewel box exists that can accommodate two or more compact discs. Moreover, there are many similar jewel box-type CD packages well known to the art such as the Digipak.RTM. U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,812 and the Qpak.RTM. U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,242. All of these packages are similar to the jewel box in that they are containers useful for basic storage and protection of the CD when they are bought, sold, and before and after use. The primary utility of these packages, however, is not to decoratively display the CD. Their purpose is as a pure protective storage device. Conversely, the utility of the present invention is to decoratively display the CD, its graphics, and its shape.
Various wall mounted units exist designed to display or store the CD already housed in its jewel box-type packaging. Such units like the "CD Master Linx" (Patent Pending) and the "CDisplay" CD storage unit U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,952 are designed to hold the jewel box only. These units generally attach to the wall displaying the face of the jewel box's lid in the closed position. The utility of the present invention is distinguished from these aforementioned designs because instead of displaying the lid of the jewel box only, the present invention decoratively displays the CD, its graphics, and its shape.
A myriad of jewel box storage cabinets are also common to the CD art. They, however, are strictly mass storage units and provide little or no decorative display characteristics to the CD. These storage units can hold anywhere from approximately five to five hundred jewel boxes in a limited amount of space. Because their focus is on pure mass storage of jewel boxed CDs in the smallest amount of space as possible, these storage cabinets are distinguishable from the present invention. As previously stated, the utility of the present invention is to decoratively display the CD its graphics, and its shape.
Other CD display units are designed to hold the jewel boxed CD and are configured to rest inside the storage bins at CD retailers. Storage units like U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,549 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,238 are examples of this type of embodiment. The packages, however, are not designed to decoratively display the CD on a counter-top-like surface, and only displays the front lid of the jewel box. They simply store the jewel box until the CD is sold where it is then removed. As previously stated, the utility of the present invention is to decoratively display the CD, its graphics, and its shape.